Every time he closes his eyes, he can see clearly again. Ten years ago, surrounded by the raging flames that had incinerated everything, Shirou found his own destiny. It was like being reborn from the fire...
Every time he remembered that part of his life, he felt he owed something to the world for letting him live, but he didn't know what to do about it.
He has trained the little magic he learned from Kiritsugu. He has trained his body to be stronger and is even quite good at archery. If a magus were to face Shirou, they would surely have a very hard time.
"Gradation Air..." Shirou spread his hands.
He was in the old shed at home. As always, he never stopped training or improving himself. He hated his own weakness, so he always pushed himself too hard when training.
"Trace On" he whispered, and something strange began to glow in his hands.
It was this same magic to project things from the bottom of your heart. Gradation Air, which projects something from your mind and soul, something you have imagined. However, this had a disadvantage.
The moment Shiro materialized a knife, it vanished a second later.
"Damn..." He failed again.
It was too difficult for him to maintain something he managed to project into the real world. His mana was not enough to do the job efficiently. If we put that flaw aside, he could still use Gradation Air to reinforce his body and physical abilities, as well as increase the hardness and damage of a specific object.
Although he is a mediocre magus, he could keep his magic with him.
It was this same magic that helped him survive his battles against the Einzbern family's homunculi. But it was traumatic to have to remember all those corpses. They looked like real people, but they acted like emotionless robots.
Shirou tried to reach Kiritsugu's real daughter with everything he had, but he always failed. The real magus were too powerful. In the end, he always returned to Japan empty-handed and covered in wounds.
He wants to meet that sister he heard so much about. She is the reason he corrected his desire to be a hero of justice. But she wasn't the only reason, Kiritsugu was too. Shirou only had to see the man who lost everything to understand that following the same path would be extremely painful and lonely.
That's why Shirou thought of something else.
"Before saving everyone. Before I can become a true hero of justice, even if I become a hypocrite, I will first be a hero for her..."
He doesn't even know her, he doesn't know what she looks like, but he still wanted to save her. How long has she been alone in that place, surrounded by synthetic beings that emulate humans? How long has she been waiting for Kiritsugu to return?
Thinking about the possible suffering of that girl made Shirou's gaze turn somber.
"But... I don't know your name..."
Kiritsugu never told him...
***
Shiro went to school as usual. He helped everyone who needed help and was a good guy as always. Unfortunately, because of this, he had to leave the archery club, just to help others.
He knew that acting this way was just an excuse to self-destruct, as the guilt of all those people who died ten years ago haunted him. He felt he didn't deserve to live, but he was still going to strive to earn that right.
This morning, he helped the student council president, Ryuudou Issei, repair the heating in some classrooms. Lately, everything breaks down very easily, but that's because everything here is very old.
He used his magic to find out everything that needed to be repaired, and then he did it. There were things that could no longer be fixed, others that would be very difficult to repair, and others that weren't so bad and could still work for a long time.
At this school, he was a saint and a good Samaritan, but Shirou didn't consider himself as such.
***
He almost always leaves school late, but not late enough. The sky is still red from the sun setting on the horizon. Some students from other schools and random people were walking down the streets, but he, Shirou, walks alone among all those people.
He always walks alone down these streets. He always walks home alone. But that doesn't mean that people hate him and that's why no one walks home with him; it's because Shirou wants to be alone in these kinds of situations.
He only has Fuji-nee, and that is more than enough for him. At least, until the moment he first meets that older sister waiting in the confines of Einzbern Castle, he will remain the lone hero.
However, when it was getting dark enough for the streetlights to come on, a girl's laughter was heard on the street.
Suddenly, in the middle of the empty street, a girl wearing warm clothes and a purple hat appeared. Shirou was startled by the sudden encounter, but he quickly calmed down, as people still tend to pass by the street at this hour.
He walked straight ahead and passed by the girl, but she said something to him.
"If you don't summon it, you will die... Onii-chan..."
Shirou looked back, but the girl was gone. He could barely see her face in the darkness, but he noticed her white hair, which reminded him a little of the Einzbern family's homunculus.
"I think I need to get more sleep..."
He decided that what he saw and heard was just his imagination, and calmly returned home.
***
The next day, when Fuji-nee left for work, as this lively woman who acts like a child is his teacher at school, Shirou left for school as usual.
All along the way, he felt someone watching him. It was a strange feeling; dangerous. It gave him the chills, but seeing no one around, he thought he was being paranoid. Since what happened last night, he thought his mind was no longer as sound as before.
Passing through one of the streets, he discovered that the police were there. There was yellow tape and confused people looking on. Despite how murky the scene looked, Shirou continued on his way. There was nothing to be gained by staying to watch today.
The routine was the same every day. Arrive at school early, help out as much as possible, and pay attention in class. Although the latter was more difficult for him because he spent the whole day thinking about the feeling he had.
It was also strange when he entered the school, as he felt an even more terrible sensation, but at the end of the day, that feeling disappeared.
"You don't have to stay and help, Emiya-kun. I can do it myself."
That voice belonged to Mitsuzuri-senpai, mopping the wooden floor of the Archery Club with a rag in her hands. Shirou smiled calmly as he polished the bowstrings.
"You're the captain, and yet you stay behind to clean up. If we clean up together, we'll finish earlier."
"Well, it would be more efficient if you went back to the club."
Shirou looked away.
"I can't, really. I don't have enough time for the archery club."
Mitsuzuri stopped and sat down on the floor. She crossed her arms and analyzed Shirou. Shirou felt uncomfortable and tried not to look at the captain's cleavage.
"You say that, but you have time to help everyone. Emiya-kun, do you have a girlfriend?"
Shirou raised his eyebrows. He hadn't expected such a question, but he took his time to answer. He put the bow he was polishing on the floor before doing so.
"I don't have one. It's just that I don't feel responsible enough to keep coming to this place. Besides, I have to prepare dinner for Fuji-sensei."
"Really?"
Mitsuzuri didn't seem entirely convinced, but she let it go. They both finished cleaning up and went home.
As he stepped outside the school, Shirou had the feeling he had seen Tohsaka on the school roof. What would that girl be doing there? Admiring the stars? Does she like the wind? The truth is that Shirou was tired enough not to worry about it.
It's not that late, so Shirou will go home and prepare dinner. Fuji-nee will eat like a bear and leave on her motorcycle at full speed as she always does.
"I don't understand how they haven't taken away her license..."
Enough with the strange questions. Just as he predicted, events unfolded into the night. Fuji-nee had become so predictable that Shirou could already predict how she would do things.
The bad thing was that now he was alone and had nothing to do.
"Train..." he said to himself to remind himself.
Before, he was watching TV, but now he had to concentrate on using magic. But today, of all days, something had to happen to interrupt him. The doorbell rang, and Shirou went out to see who it was.
The house was large (it had been Kiritsugu and Saber's base when the Einzbern castle was compromised ten years ago), so Shirou had to run and put on his sandals to see who it was.
When he opened the door, he found the same girl from yesterday. Her eyes were red as blood and her hair was white as snow. She was pale and small, like an adorable little animal in the darkness.
Shirou was stunned for a second by the adorable surprise at his door, but he didn't let that distract him from the matter at hand. Who was this girl? She gave off the same uncomfortable feeling as this morning, but her appearance showed nothing threatening.
"Hello... Why are you out so late? Are you lost?"
The girl shook her head. With a soft, kind smile, she looked Shirou in the eyes.
"May I come in?" she said, her voice matching her appearance.
—Homurahara Academy—
On Rin's side, she had encountered an unexpected enemy. Judging by the red spear and strange clothing, it was the servant Lancer. The two exchanged a brief stare-down before Rin decided to take the initiative.
"The barrier... Is that your doing?"
The man in blue smiled confidently. "Not at all. Those are the magus's doing. I just fight as the magus command. Don't you think so, friend?" He looked to Rin's side, where Archer stood in his ghost form.
"Servant..." she confirmed.
Lancer shook his head. "Hooh... If you know what I am, then that makes you an enemy. Huh... My mistake, I shouldn't have spoken to you just for fun," Lancer said, maneuvering the red spear on his shoulders.
Rin frowned and looked around. There was a way to escape into the open field. She ran with all her might to escape, and Lancer lunged at her. He gripped the spear in his hands and was ready to stab Rin, but she used magic to increase the strength in her own legs.
She jumped over the wire fence and contracted her body.
"Archer!"
[Yes!]
Archer materialized his body momentarily and grabbed Rin. He helped her land, and together they ran to one of the empty school fields, but Lancer was faster and was about to cut Rin's throat.
However, Archer appeared holding two swords and blocked the spear. Lancer backed away and snorted.
"I like people who know what they're doing," Lancer said. He was brimming with confidence, though he didn't seem to underestimate his enemies. He raised his spear, ready to fight.
Archer remained silent, waiting for his Master's command.
Rin nodded. "I'm not going to help you, so show me what you're capable of."
Archer smiled. He released all his mana in a great explosion of wind and, in the blink of an eye, disappeared. Lancer frowned and immediately noticed Archer's presence in front of him.
In a quick exchange, Lancer blocked Archer's swords twice before having to jump back to get up and throw himself once more into battle. He was faster than Archer, so there was no problem.
At the same time, near that place, a mysterious masked figure watched the fight in silence. The eyes of his mask glowed red, and his cloak moved with the wind. When the wind stopped, that mysterious being had vanished. He is still there, but no one can see him anymore.
This confrontation is vital to fighting in this war, so watching the idiots fight it out right away was the best choice.
It's no wonder this servant was summoned under the Assassin class; he's also a ninja, Toru.
As for the fight between Archer and Lancer, it escalated too quickly. Archer managed to discover Lancer's identity fairly quickly, but Archer lost many of his swords in the process. Even though he is an Archer, he used swords to fight, which was quite rare.
Lancer decided to use his Noble Phantasm and charged all the power of his mana into the tip of his spear, which glowed as if it were enveloped in red flames.
Assassin watched this closely. This information was valuable, but fate had to be against him.
Just as Lancer was ready to launch his final attack, a voice called out to him; it was his Master. It seemed that the Master was reproaching Lancer for using his Noble Phantasm so early in the war.
Lancer decided to leave, but not before threatening Archer and Rin. Lancer didn't care if they followed him, as he was sure that if they did, they would die under the blade of his spear. Archer sadly had to agree with him. At that moment, they couldn't defeat him.
This made Assassin leave disappointed. He had expected more, but got nothing. His body vanished in a cloud of smoke, and the information traveled through the ley lines until it reached the original Assassin.
***
At the top of a building in downtown Fuyuki, Assassin waited for all the clones he had sent. From now on, the entire formation of this war would be his...